This invention relates to clamping devices. More particularly, the invention is concerned with clamping devices to clamp blade-shaped materials such as paper or leaf-like materials.
Blade-shaped materials are understood to specifically include note pad slips, cards, travel- and parking lot tickets, drawings, data sheets and the like, which are easily accessible for instantaneous use or to collect and file them in folders.
To clamp such blade-shaped materials numerous devices of various types are already known, such as spring loaded clamps, eccentric clamps or clamps with moving, e.g. weight affected components, wedges or the like. Mechanically effective clamps as these have various drawbacks. This is particularly so when it is necessary to actuate them as a considerable skill is required, as well as the necessity to use both hands. The heretofore known clamping devices must be opened and/or kept open with one hand, and the other hand must be used to insert or remove the blade-shaped material.
The aforementioned disadvantage also applies to a well-known type of device (known from the Austrain Pat. No. DT-OS 2,245,760), which is equipped with or contains two strip-like sections of magnetic material which are mutually parallel-arranged on a flexible support and specifically provided for loose-leaf type of pages, particularly for document collators. This conventionally known clamping device requires a special liftup mechanism, a handhold or the like which is adapted to be opened by lifting off one magnetic strip from the other so as to overcome the magnetic adhesion, and move the magnets to a position so that the clamping device can pickup blade-shaped material or have such material removed therefrom.
The repeated opening and closing of this device because of the manner in which the forces are applied diminishes the effectiveness of the magnet and therefore the effective working life of the clamping device. Also known is the use of small, loosely arranged magnets capable of securing blade-shaped material to any given magnetic and/or magnetizable support. Such small magnets, however, as known from experiences are easily lost, and they are only particularly usable if a suitable base is available.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a clamping device which can be used and operated with one hand.
A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and easily operable clamping device which can be attached to the dashboard of an automobile, particularly to maintain the clamping device within the view of the driver, and only require one hand for operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a single hand operated clamping device which can be readily attached to a telephone, musical instrument, mathematical calculator or the like which requires the other hand for operation.